I did too. But when you realize it's just a shiny object to distract you from the fact that your sparge water is actually 20 degrees colder than you expected, then you adjust your thinking.

They actually worked fine for me, as long as you were careful not to lose the little silicone stoppers from the ends. I sold it off along with my 10 gal Gott cooler when I went to a half-barrel Pico system.

It can stop spinning when my hot liquor tank is nearly empty, but I don't see that as an issue. I generally don't have a problem hitting/holding my mash temp either.

I also adjust the height above the grains as much as I can - so the water doens't have to fall too far before making contact. Also, my setup means the water doesn't travel very far between leaving the hot liquor tank and exiting the sparger. I'm quite certain I'm not losing anything close to 20 degrees.

I guess I'll keep using it until I find something better or it breaks...

I did too. But when you realize it's just a shiny object to distract you from the fact that your sparge water is actually 20 degrees colder than you expected, then you adjust your thinking.

They actually worked fine for me, as long as you were careful not to lose the little silicone stoppers from the ends. I sold it off along with my 10 gal Gott cooler when I went to a half-barrel Pico system.

I have to chime in. I have a buddy who has a fancy tier sculpture with pumps and counterflow chiller that he made and constructed by himself and his brew day takes about 6-8 hours. His beer tastes great. I use the Denny / batch sparge method and my brew day takes about 5 hours. I think my beer tastes great. To each their own. I'm just glad that I found this cheaper (and in my opinion simpler) method of all-grain brewing which I believe produces equal results because i was reluctant to get into all-grain thinking I had to spend thousands of $ for new equipment. Denny states this better in the last Zymurgy issue, but anyway thanks Denny for helping this guy take baby steps in equipment upgrades and giant leaps in beer quality.

As for your last question, I would never let my beer anywhere near my camping coolers! Let's just say the sanitization standards are a bit different!

Thanks for the reply, Denny. Cheers.

What I meant was that maybe you should think about trying batch sparging with your current setup rather than your camping coolers.

Yeah, I knew that, I was going for the easy joke about my camping coolers. And I will be batch sparging my next brew--an easy pale ale that I am very familiar with so I can gauge the difference. I can expect 115% efficiency, right?

As for your last question, I would never let my beer anywhere near my camping coolers! Let's just say the sanitization standards are a bit different!

Thanks for the reply, Denny. Cheers.

What I meant was that maybe you should think about trying batch sparging with your current setup rather than your camping coolers.

Yeah, I knew that, I was going for the easy joke about my camping coolers. And I will be batch sparging my next brew--an easy pale ale that I am very familiar with so I can gauge the difference. I can expect 115% efficiency, right?

I did too. But when you realize it's just a shiny object to distract you from the fact that your sparge water is actually 20 degrees colder than you expected, then you adjust your thinking.

They actually worked fine for me, as long as you were careful not to lose the little silicone stoppers from the ends. I sold it off along with my 10 gal Gott cooler when I went to a half-barrel Pico system.

20 degrees??!! It's toast!

Thanks Gordon.

My setup means the water doesn't travel very far between leaving the hot liquor tank and exiting the sparger. I'm quite certain I'm not losing anything close to 20 degrees. If I was, I'd never hit my target mash temp.

beveragebob

"I think it'd be hard to lift a kettle full of water to that top tier, this is what I don't get about 3 tier systems."

Beersk,

I have three three tier gravity systems. I just use a hose that runs up to the kettle. Either from a GAC filter or straight in(when I use camden tabs). Only time it's a little challenging is when I'm using RO water but, I have brewing platforms I can stand on securely and "pour in". Not a big deal. I've had a pump that I hardly use being that gravity has not broken on me yet